Test Taking Anxiety challenges lots of students, but can develop into a great problem when it hurts your performance on important tests.
Taking tests can be extremely worrying for many students. It’s not uncommon at all to feel worried during exam times and the more critical the exam, the greater the stress. A little test taking anxiety is normal and extremely common for everyone as long as the anxiety doesn’t stop you from performing well on tests that are essential to you.
Anxiety is a actually a natural reaction to pressure that all people feel. The good part of anxiety is that it can inspire you to study harder and be better prepared than you would if you had no test anxiety. On the other hand, anxiety becomes a problem when it causes you much distress and hinders your abiltiy to do your best. If anxiety is hurting your performance on significant test such as a driving test or college entrance exams, it can develop into a severe problem in your life.
How do you know if you have a average level of nervousness, or do you have a more serious form of test taking anxiety?
Consider the last important test you took and ask yourself if you experienced any of the following prior to or during the test.
-Physical problems such as headaches, nausea, or diarrhea, extreme body temperature changes, extreme sweating, shortness of breath, light-headed or fainting, rapid heart beat, muscle tension or a dry mouth
Feeling Emotional – extreme insecurity, disappointment, anger, depression or nervous laughing, crying
-Tension in Your Body – fidgeting, pacing, tempted to use something (drugs or alcohol) to calm you or wanted to avoid the test altogether
-Mental Symptoms – racing thoughts, mind goes blank, difficulty concentrating, negative self-talk, feelings of dread, negatively comparing yourself to others, difficulty organizing your thoughts.
If you felt many of these symptoms to a severe enough degree to negatively affect your ability to perform on your test, you may need help for test taking anxiety.
What causes Test Anxiety and why do some suffer while others are able to stay relaxed?
While there are many causes of anxiety, some typical reasons to be nervous before a test are a lack of preparation, tired from last minute cramming the night before or other poor study habits, as well as poor time management. Test Anxiety can also be related to other forms of stress and anxiety disorders. Are you going through a very stressful time in your life in general? Do you suffer from other forms of anxiety…panic attacks, trouble sleeping, changes in appetite or difficulty with depression?
You may feel greater test anxiety than normal when you are experiencing a lot of stress in general. You may also find that you are more susceptible to test anxiety if you are tense by nature and have other symptoms of additional forms of anxiety.
Regardless of whether you have always experienced intense anxiety around taking tests, or you are struggling through a stressful time in your life, there are things you can do now to get your anxiety under control and enhance your performance on critical exams.
Find out how to conquer your test taking anxiety now and sign up for a Free Mini-Course Anxiety Answers for immediate relief.
